Growing azaleas is not a carefree, low maintenance activity. I amend my clay soil with 6 inches of pea gravel and then 18 inches of loam, sand, peat moss, and pine bark, with additions of granular sulphur, and early spring Holly Tone fertilizer and again in October. Each year I top dress with compost, granular sulphur, and pine bark (many garden leaves have a pH too high for azaleas). The site has good air drainage, strong easterly sun, afternoon shade, and strong wind protection from the west and northwest. Many of my northern lights azaleas are over 25 years old and about seven feet tall, newer additions such as electric lights and candy lights are smaller, but gaining height. In the winter I protect the azaleas from white-tailed deer and rabbits. Some winters may be warm (+50 F.) and dry for a week or two and then back to -20 F. and lower. I check the soil which is well drained, if it is dry I get our the hose and water the soil, it saved my azaleas and evergreen Rhododendrons, as many in Michigan lost theirs because of dry desiccating winters. This happens about once very ten years. From July 10 until September 15 I monitor the soil water carefully and at the earliest signs of wilting, I water heavily. Azaleas need water but good air drainage in the roots too, so that is why they get easily desiccated in winter or suffer from drought in mid to late summer. Each spring I must remove the canker worms on the leaves or they will consume a big plant in a week and a small plant in a day.

As I have large shrubs now, the show is spectacular. People within two counties come by to see the yearly show and enjoy the fragrance. It is certainly very beautiful, but it takes a dedicated gardener-- I have killed lots of plants, but I make sure my azaleas have survived. I am a life member of the American Rhododendron Society and I knew the breeders of the azaleas, as they were my professors when I was an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota. I see many people install azalea beds, even in arboretums where the azaleas are neglected and look shoddy. It takes real dedication to grow them in the upper midwest and northern great plains. I lived in Edmonton in my youth-- very little grows there but the hardiest pine, spruce, fir, and aspen. In Edmonton, cool season annuals add color. By late summer the azaleas can look ragged but many have an interesting fall color similar to blueberry plants or some juneberries. I enjoy the architecture of the shrub in the winter and the large flower buds. In the spring, bumble bees work the flowers. I grow blueberries, bunchberries, huckleberries, lingonberries and cranberries in my azaleas gardens, as they all need an acid soil, plus my Magnolia virginiana tree which is way out of its range of the eastern shores of the USA, but flowers and has grown over 15 years to a height of 12 feet and one rare Asian maple that prefers/tolerates highly acid soil.

When I first saw pictures of azaleas, I could not imagine them, as they looked like abundant daylily flowers on a shrub. But finally in the spring of 1975, I saw my first azalea in full bloom on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus. I grow the plants in honor of the professors who bred them and Dr. Leon Snyder who initiated the breeding program in Minnesota. I even call my path by the azaleas-- the Snyder Walk. I live in the county where Leon Snyder was raised as a youngster. So indeed I am passionate about hardy azaleas, but they are not for the casual gardener and it takes about 10 years before the show to truly becomes impressive.

I do not wish to discourage anyone, but the comments on these pages from others I can sympathize with and the reality of their experiences is very reasonable. For many, flowering shrubs/perennials such as spiraea, mock orange, lilac, peonies, viburnum, lillies, daylilies, and iris may be a better choice.

Yours in communications,

Jon